'I Advised PM Not To Come Fearing Congress MPs': Speaker Om Birla After PM Modi Misses Lok Sabha Speech

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday launched a broadside against the Congress party, stating that he had advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to come to the House on Wednesday after receiving inputs that Congress MPs could create an inappropriate incident near the Prime Minister's chair.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, he said, “When the Prime Minister was supposed to respond to the President's address in the House, I received information that several Congress MPs could have created an inappropriate incident near the Prime Minister's chair. If such an incident had occurred, it would have torn apart the democratic traditions of the country. To prevent this, I requested the Prime Minister not to come to the House.”

The Lok Sabha Speaker also thanked PM Modi for preventing unpleasant scenes by listening to his advice. However, he emphasised that it was inappropriate that the Leader of the House could not speak in the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not speaking in the Lower House on Wednesday. Speaking to the media outside Parliament, she said, “The PM is hiding behind the Speaker. Yesterday, he did not have the guts to come to the House because three women were standing before the bench. What nonsense is this? There is no discussion because the government doesn’t want discussion to happen.”

According to reports, women MPs from the Opposition, largely from the Congress, gathered near the Prime Minister’s seat in the Lok Sabha, blocking the path through which he would have walked to reach it. As a result, Prime Minister Modi’s address was deferred after the Lok Sabha was adjourned.